My 6 foot high welded wire fence keeps out deer. This year I had to add chicken wire at the bottom, one foot spliced with the welded wire and then two feet turned outwards on the ground, buried with mulch. This was necessary to keep out groundhogs who were happily digging under the fence and decimating the garden.

Deer can jump a 6 foot fence, but IME into a small area, they won't. Though in the winter all bets are off.

I kept a very small raised bed (8'x4') fenced with deer fencing this year and had minimal problems. In growing season, there is plenty of variety for our local deer, so I think they (and the bears) will more or less leave a garden of this size be, but the groundhogs are remorseless.

Would welded wire alone not deter groundhogs if I dug it in? Also, what do you use for posts? Sorry for the rookie questions.

Thanks, Peter. We are not far apart, either. I am in NWNJ, less than 5 miles from the NY border and LoHud.

That seems like an affordable and flexible solution until I have a more permanent garden layout.

Electric Fence, very affordable if your garden is close enough to an outside outlet. If not price goes up for a solar charger. Maximum flexibility and easily changed or moved completely. Make sure the bottom wire is only a couple inches off the ground for the groundhogs, rabbits, etc. Grass weeds, have to be kept trimmed from the bottom wire (or tape) as it only takes one to ground out the fence.

Has anyone used the new electric fence 'tape' ?

I have two dogs, so I think electric fence is out.

For those who do simple galvanized wire fences, what do you do for a gate/access point?

I bought a gate kit, I think it was $20, and built the gate out of treated lumber, with jambs mounted to metal stakes. I can take a picture if you want. Its shifted a little and doesn't close quite perfectly, but good enough for functionality.

I looked into the electric fence but it seemed like a hassle (supplying electric, bait etc) and not dependable. What good is a fence that is voided out by a single weed?

I would love to see a picture! Thank you for all of your advice.

Here's some pictures.. I will try to get a better pic of the gate tomorrow. :)

We used polypropylene deer fencing. Needed 2 100' rolls. Its been up 2 years now and is holding up well. Can't even see it 20 ft from the garden. We attached the fencing to metal T posts, 8' tall and wove a wire along both the top and bottom edges for extra stability. We used a cheaper plastic before that - deer were able to push up under it, get caught in the garden and tear thru the fencing as they tried to escape. Temporarily fixed that with a single electric fence wire about 6" off the ground. But with small grandchildren, we decided to go with a sturdier fencing material. Ordered it from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009VOHNI8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage